18 ideas
| 13917 | Metaphysics aims to identify categories of being, and show their interdependency [Lowe] |
| 13919 | Philosophy aims not at the 'analysis of concepts', but at understanding the essences of things [Lowe] |
| 6299 | Axioms are often affirmed simply because they produce results which have been accepted [Resnik] |
| 15533 | We can quantify over fictions by quantifying for real over their names [Lewis] |
| 15534 | We could quantify over impossible objects - as bundles of properties [Lewis] |
| 6304 | Mathematical realism says that maths exists, is largely true, and is independent of proofs [Resnik] |
| 6300 | Mathematical constants and quantifiers only exist as locations within structures or patterns [Resnik] |
| 6303 | Sets are positions in patterns [Resnik] |
| 6302 | Structuralism must explain why a triangle is a whole, and not a random set of points [Resnik] |
| 6295 | There are too many mathematical objects for them all to be mental or physical [Resnik] |
| 6296 | Maths is pattern recognition and representation, and its truth and proofs are based on these [Resnik] |
| 6301 | Congruence is the strongest relationship of patterns, equivalence comes next, and mutual occurrence is the weakest [Resnik] |
| 15532 | 'Allists' embrace the existence of all controversial entities; 'noneists' reject all but the obvious ones [Lewis] |
| 15535 | We can't accept a use of 'existence' that says only some of the things there are actually exist [Lewis] |
| 13918 | Holes, shadows and spots of light can coincide without being identical [Lowe] |
| 13921 | All things must have an essence (a 'what it is'), or we would be unable to think about them [Lowe] |
| 13922 | Knowing an essence is just knowing what the thing is, not knowing some further thing [Lowe] |
| 13920 | Each thing has to be of a general kind, because it belongs to some category [Lowe] |